Payments, loyalty transactions, and coupon redemptions are typically conducted at point of sale (POS) environments using paper currency, plastic cards, and/or manual entry of keys via traditional network connections that utilize dial up lines, Internet connections and/or wireless networks provided by merchants or merchant service providers. However, there is a growing trend of conducting these types of transactions using a mobile device (e.g., a smart phone). In order to allow consumers to make payments, send loyalty information, or redeem coupons/offers from mobile devices (at a merchant point of sale (POS), a merchant entity may be compelled to install a near field communications (NFC) reader and/or a barcode reader. Specifically, the merchant entity may integrate the NFC reader with point of sale system to be able to accept payment, loyalty transactions, coupons/offers, and other transactional data. However, this solution not only requires a merchant to incur expensive equipment costs related to the installation of an NFC reader at each POS terminal location, but the merchant may also have to take expensive, disruptive, and time consuming measures to enable their existing POS software to fully function with the NEC reader to wirelessly accept electronic payment, loyalty, coupons/offers, and the like. Although merchants want to accept transactions initiated from mobile devices, the significant investment of time and money required to add an NEC reader is preventing a number of merchant entities from providing better service to mobile device-using customers.
Accordingly, in light of these disadvantages, there exists a need for systems, methods, and computer readable media for conducting an electronic transaction via a backend server system.